"Die Radeon HD 5970 ist da und AMD setzte das eindeutige Ziel: schnellste Gaming-Grafikkarte am Markt. Das Ziel hat man erreicht - dazu wären aber auch keine wirklichen Hürden nötig gewesen. Doch AMD suchte einen Mittelweg zwischen absoluter Dominanz und Einhaltung von Spezifikationen."

"AMDs Radeon HD 5970 liefert ohne Zweifel mehr Fps als jede andere Grafikkarte. Dies erreicht sie bei weniger Leistungsaufnahme und geringerer Lautstärke als ihre direkte Vorgängerin HD 4870 X2. In Sachen Leerlauf-Stromverbrauch stellt die HD 5970 mit 45 Watt sogar eine neue Bestmarke für Dual-GPU-Grafikkarten auf. Zusammenfassend lässt sich sagen, dass AMD auf dem richtigen Weg ist - das Ziel ist aber unserer Ansicht nach noch lange nicht erreicht."

"Kurzum: Stellen die CrossFire-Hürden, die Lautstärke unter Last und die Leistungsaufnahme kein Problem dar und soll es nun einmal die (meistens) schnellste Grafikkarte sein, führt kein Weg an die Radeon HD 5970 vorbei. Diesen Weg zu begehen wird mit einem voraussichtlichen Marktpreis von 559 Euro aber extrem teuer sein."

"All das steht auf der Habenseite, und die schnellste Grafikkarte ist die 5970 ohnehin. Selbst dafür erscheint der Preis von mehr als 550 Euro aber überzogen. Zwischen 30 und 55 Prozent mehr Rechenleistung rechtfertigen keinen Aufpreis von knapp 200 Euro gegenüber der 5870. Diese ist für alle DirectX-10-Spiele schnell genug und besitzt genug Reserven für die ersten DirectX-11-Titel. "

"Bottom line: price aside and remarks being said -- we adore the Radeon HD 5970. It's the fastest and most versatile single graphics card on the planet. The new king is here, all hail the Radeon HD 5970. If you can't afford it, you'll at the very least respect it -- very much. ATI was right about calling it Hemlock, its a poisonous and addictive product."

"Practical considerations aside, and the ultra-high-end GPU market tends to be marked by a rather whimsical approach to judiciousness, the AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 2,048MB becomes the fastest gaming card money can buy. Fermi, over to you."

"The ATI Radeon HD 5970 is perfect for high-performance gamers interested in unparalleled frame rates, and multi-monitor power users wanting triple-panel diversity. Overclockers can push this 'unlocked' Hemlock video card well beyond it's specifications, mainly because that's what it was designed for. The HD5970 is the 'Black Edition' of ATI's Radeon series, and the closest competing product is more than 40% behind."

"If you want to build the fastest rig money can buy then a HD 5970 CrossFire setup is what you need. Die-hard overclockers all over the planet will open their wallets and camp the online stores to get a pair of these, unfortunately supply will be limited."

"Finally, the dreaded price-tag. With prices starting at USD 599, the HD 5970 is uncomfortably pricey. Even given the generosity AMD showed with its choice of components, $549 would have been reasonable, $499 pleasant. Perhaps an important factor driving this is the availability."

"AMD made a good choice in enabling Crossfire Eyefinity for the 5970, as they have made a card so fast that it basically shoots past everything on the market that isn’t Crysis. All of our action games that aren’t CPU limited do better than 100fps at 2560x1600, and RTSs are doing just under 60fps. The 5970 is without a doubt Overkill (with a capital O) on a single monitor. This will likely change for future games (i.e. STALKER), but on today’s games it’s more power than is necessary to drive even the largest single monitor."

"With everything said and done, what are our thoughts on the HD 5970 and the Sapphire version as it comes out of the box? Well, to be frank, we love it. There's nothing better than having a single graphics card that performs almost as well as two out of the box. The bundle is kick ass and the specifications and feature set is the same as the HD 5870 which we love. "

"It may be big and it may be noisy but the 5970 is a great card and once companies such as Sapphire and PowerColor work their magic on the cooling system it will be near perfect. We can’t wait to try the big upcoming DirectX 11 titles such as Dirt 2 and Alien vs. Predator on the 5970, as things stand it will be an experience which is unmatched."

"Summarizing the ATI Radeon HD 5970's performance couldn't be any easier. The Radeon HD 5970 is simply the fastest, most powerful single graphics card available today. The Radeon HD 5970 offered better performance than every other graphics card we tested, regardless of the game or application. In comparison to other multi-GPU solutions, the Radeon HD 5970 falls in-line right about where you'd expect it to, considering its specifications."